It all started on a regular day. It was just a normal day- a very normal day in fact, though maybe slightly rainier than most days in Gotham. I took the train home from school like I always did. I got off at Fremont Station and started to walk home. It was still light out, but the tall building packed tightly together caused a bleak effect of perpetual semi-darkness over the city, even in the daytime. It was only four- I skipped going to my usual hangout with my friends in order to get home in time to see my boyfriend. Vinny doesn't go to school. He claims he dropped out to work at the auto shop because school is a load of bull, but I know he's smart enough to graduate, even at seventeen. I'm only a sophomore though, and I can't drop out for at least a few more months on my sixteenth birthday.

The walk home from the station is only about eight minutes, maybe five on a good day. But when prostitutes are leering at you, homeless men are begging for money, and every man and his uncle is wolf-whistling at you, the eight minute walk seems to go on forever. I usually have Vinny walk me home, but his hours are all screwed up because his friend and co-worker Danny is missing. Danny is one of Vinny's friends who works at the auto shop with him. I've spent a lot of time with him because he tends to stay at the apartment sometimes, and he seem like a nice enough guy, if not a little bit shy and reserved. No one has seen him for three days now.

I speed walked the entire way home and finally let out a sigh of relief when I arrived at the door of Vinny's apartment building. I let myself in and went up to room 6C, slamming the door and locking it shut behind me. Vinny's brother owns the apartment, but he's hardly ever here. He's in with some gang or something, so he makes a decent enough living to let Vinny and I stay here. My dad is too drunk to remember he even has a daughter, and my mother would rather not have to pay for me anyway, so I effectively live here.

I only had to watch two episodes of The Nanny before Vinny came through the door. "Lacey, I'm home!" he yelled. I could tell something wasn't right the moment he walked in. "Is everything all right? Is it about Danny- did you find him?" I asked, leading him over to the kitchen table. "We found him, alright," said Vinny. He seemed angry about something. He wasn't acting like someone who's just found their friend again.

"He walked in to the shop this morning, going on and on about this gang he's with now. Some stupid clowns or something? I couldn't understand him… he kept going on and on about someone called the Joker! Danny said that we needed to pay a protection fee to do business here, or the Joker would make trouble for us. Finally the boss came out of his office and agreed to the. Danny didn't even look at me, Lacey, not once. I don't know what type of people he's in with, but it's not good."

"I'm sorry, Vin, but there's nothing we can do. You know how dangerous it is to be in with people- Danny wll have to get out of whatever trouble he's in on his own! I've never heard of the Joker, but I doubt this guy will last long. Don't worry, It'll all be over soon."

2 MONTHS LATER

I was completely wrong about the Joker. He ended up becoming one of the most notorious villains in Gotham's history. He tortured, maimed, killed, exploded- all for no explainable reason. Most of the mob bosses in Gotham are driven by money, power, or greed. The Joker doesn't seem to care for any of these things. He is driven by chaos. I never learned what happened to Danny… until today.

I was walking home from the station. It was late and dark, which is a combination I tried to avoid at all costs but that tended to happen very frequently here in the Narrows. There had been a free concert in the downtown area, and I didn't want to miss it. Vinny was working late- again. This left me all alone, speeding down the streets and praying that I didn't get mugged, raped, or killed. I had a knife on me if worst came to worst. The streets are pretty lively at eight at night, but there are still parts of the Narrows that are endless passages of alleyways that only the worst types of criminals live in. I tried not to look down the alleys and stick to the main roads, but something caught my attention. Only a little ways down the alley I saw a group of men and one of their faces in particular stood out. "Danny?" I asked incredulously, but they were too far away to hear me and turned to head deeper into the alley. I moved into the alley to follow Danny, but suddenly I felt a weight on my shoulders drag me down and spin me to face the wall. I was pinned against the wall, facing a boy who looked only a little older than me. "Give me your wallet!" He whisper-yelled at me. I realize he was relatively new at the whole mugging thing because he didn't just reach into my pocket and grab it himself. I nodded slowly and reached into my pocket, pulling out my wallet- and my knife. I flipped the blade open and lunged at him. He was surprisingly fast, and he dodged me. I tired to stab at him, but he turned my wrist in on me and forced the blade into my stomache.

I gasped in pain and slowly slid down the wall, ending in a heap on the ground. My attacker quickly ran way, obviously ashamed of what he'd done. I was losing blood fast, and I was losing consciousness. I heard someone vaguely familiar yelling my name, and I prayed that Danny had turned around and would save me. The last thing I heard was the sound of multiple footsteps rushing towards me and a dark voice saying, "Wh-at do we have here?"